Bhadrak: Police busted a fake zarda (chewing tobacco) manufacturing racket and arrested four persons from Purunabazar here on Sunday

The cops raided the units operating at Chandanbazar and Sarkarnagar. They seized raw material, machineries, labels of branded companies and around 1,000 containers, including 800 empty cases.

"The accused have been identified as Sk Alli, 50, and Sk Karimulla, 32, both from Badashankarpur, Sk Umed, 38, of Shankarpur, and Sk Golam Mufta, 40, of Budhubarahata village. They were booked under section 420, 272, 273, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 20 (ii) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, and sections 103, 104 of Trade Marks Act, 1999<>," said Purunabazar police station inspector-in-charge Pragyan Mohanty.

"They were marketing the spurious products to different places" the officer said, adding that the units had been operating for a long time, allowing the accused to make huge profits.

Recently, the cops seized a huge consignment of fake zarda was seized from a bus following raids near Panikoili in Jajpur district. It was learnt that the consignment was booked from Bhadrak.